Home sweet Home
by Joy Booth
Summary: My version of the Post Santa Fe fallout and make up. There is a little cursing, but I dont really think it is M.


Mindy had had been acting weird, well weirder than usual for the last few weeks. At first it was just little things, like she didn't pop into his office anymore to update him on the "Real Housewives of Staten Island". Then, she started snapping at Morgan left and right. A week ago, she had even managed to cause Betsy to spend nearly a quarter of an hour in his office crying, after a cranky diatribe about a booking problem that had turned out to be a computer malfunction. But apparently the straw that broke the office's back, was when she pointed out that Reed's new haircut made him look an older version of Jude Law.

This, of course, lead to a secret meeting, in which it was decided that he should be the one to confront her. So, at nearly the end of business Friday afternoon, he decided to make his move. At least if she storms out he wouldn't have to worry about covering her patients and she could take the weekend to get over herself.

He knocked on her office door, which oddly is closed. Did she have a patient that wasn't on the schedule? His question is proved wrong, when she wrenched the door open, interrupting him mid second knock.

"What do you want?" She growled.

Shit, they weren't kidding about her attitude. Danny had been out of the office most of the week with the stomach flu, so he only had the word of his coworkers sending him on this obvious suicide mission.

"Oh, you know, just wanted to see how you had gotten along without me all week." He joked trying to start their usual back tête-à-tête.

She scoffed, "Believe it or not, this place gets along just fine, while the great Danny Castellano is off on his weeklong booty calls."

"Excuse me, for your information, not that it's any of your fucking business, but I spent three out of the last four days with my head in a toilet."

"Whatever Danny, I just think it's pretty suspicious that you get sick a week after your wife shows up out of the blue."

"Well Dr. Lahiri, I don't really care what you think about my /Ex- Wife/'s visit or my subsequent bout with /The Flu/. I really just came to tell you that everyone is tired of you being such a bitch." As soon as the words left his mouth he knew he had let his anger get the better of him, but he would be damned if he was going to apologize after what she had just suggested.

"Get out of my office." She demanded in full warrior mode.

"Oh, I will, when I have finished saying what I came here to say. I certainly don't want to spend any more time in the gorgon's lair than necessary, but you need to understand that you can't take out your anger about Benifer's latest break up on the people who work for us. It's really unprofessional."

"Unprofessional? This whole conversation is unprofessional, Danny. I really want you to leave now." She responded with less fire.

"Yeah, ok, just get your shit together before you come to work Monday, Lahiri." He said before leaving.

Monday came and went with no further complaints from the staff, but there weren't any doughnuts in the break room either. Tuesday Danny noticed that there was a lack of gossip coming from the front desk, as he left for lunch. By Thursday, he realized that they had taken to IMing each other instead of the usual laughter and open atmosphere that had become more common since Dr. Schulman's departure. Even Morgan stayed in his little draw-room/ office.

Friday, when everyone was gone by 5:01 he knew he would have to have another chat with her, that or find an office with a less hostile work environment. Danny stopped by her favorite cupcakery and picked up six of their best. Over his many years of dealing with women, he had learned that when you were going to have an unpleasant conversation, you should come bearing gifts.

"What are you doing here?" Mindy asked when she finally answered the door after a full minute of knocking on Danny's part.

"I brought you cupcakes." He offered, figuring that would at least get him in the door.

"Of course, you did," She sighed, "Come on in."

As Danny followed her into the kitchen he noted that the TV wasn't on.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"Yeah, because I am the kind of girl who would actually leave the house in an outfit like this." She snapped sarcastically, gesturing at her lack of make-up, hair in a soft braid, wearing only a t-shirt and yoga pants. He hadn't even noticed her state of relaxed dress, until she pointed it out.

"The lady at the bakery said the 'Beyonce's butterlicious' are pretty good." He offered while setting the box on the counter.

Upon hearing the name of the cupcake, she had given a classic Mindy smile of excitement, that he hadn't seen in a quite a while, but it was quickly replaced with a grimace.

Danny fished for a topic trying to avoid the eventual fight. "How's it going with your pastor?"

"We broke up." She stated plainly before redirecting him, "What are you doing here?"

"Can't a friend just bring another friend some cupcakes on a Friday night without some ulterior motive?"

"Not seeing as how the last time said /friends/ talked, one called the other a bitch." She snarled.

"Look, I'm sorry Min. You know I didn't mean it. It just I am still a little touchy about Christina. Know really know how to bring out the worst in me." He tried to joke.

"Yeah well, I I've decided to dedicate myself to my profession, a la Frances in Under the Tuscan Sun, so you won't have to worry about spending all your down time with me anymore." She mentioned blandly.

"Are you leaving the practice?" Danny choked.

"What? No, god Danny, it's like nothing I say means anything to you. I am just going to focus on my work. No more distractions. No late nights looking for Mr. Right. No getting caught up in office shenanigans. Just work."

"Well that's what I really came by about, Min. This isn't you. This straight lace, business is business person, is not going to make you happy."

"I can be serious, Castellano, and what would you know about being happy, oh wait, that's right all your dreams came true when Christina showed up." She snapped.

"What is with you and fixating on Fucking Christina? She is history, okay? Would you just stop bringing her up just to piss me off?" He yelled, because honestly even though he didn't have feelings for his ex anymore, Mindy thinking he did, made him want to shake her.

"Yeah, she is so history that when she showed up at our office, you just could not wait to talk to her?"

Danny heard the crack in her voice, and started putting the pieces together. Mindy's off behavior had started right after they got back from Santa Fe, after the incident on the plane, but more specifically the day after Christina showed up.

"Under the Tuscan Sun? I haven't seen that one. Is it as cheesy as the junk you usually watch?" He tried to change the subject.

"No, it is not cheesy! Well, maybe at the end a little bit, but the point is, the Frances focuses on fixing up this house, and the universe sends her everything she wanted out of life."

"Sounds cheesy…"

"Well, it's not, now as it is Friday night and you are Danny Castellano, I assume you have to head home and watch all the episodes of Deadliest oil drillers on your DVR, before a Saturday C-section."

"Ha ha, really getting tired of the defensive attitude here, Min. I am not leaving here until I get your word that things are going to get better at the office."

"What do you want from me? Six months ago you were lecturing everyone and their brother about the workplace being for work, and now you are badgering me because I have been doing my job?"

"Things change," He returned vaguely.

"Not enough…" She mumbled.

"Not enough for what?"

"You know what never mind, I thought that like, things had changed between us but not enough, ok." She huffed.

"Not Enough for What?" He insisted.

"Just… god Danny, not enough for," She looked away and nearly whispered, "not enough for you to actually like me."

"Mindy, I like you. If I didn't I wouldn't be here right now, and I definitely wouldn't have brought you cupcakes that cost more than my haircuts."

"This is juvenile, but before I saw you with Christina, I thought we might, like, become a thing."

"So, what you're in love with me now?" he half joked, but his heart was racing in his chest.

"Yeah, wouldn't that be stupid." She chuckled, but she wouldn't make eye contact.

Danny shifted from one foot the other and rolled his shoulders as he thought about what to do.

"I don't think it would be totally stupid." He offered, earning immediate eye contact with a shocked looking Mindy.

"You don't?" She sounded too surprised.

"I don't."

"But Christina is back, and isn't she like your dream girl, all blonde and thin and beautiful?"

"Would you stop looking for drama everywhere? It's not like I dated a bunch of blondes. Eye patch and Alex were both brunettes, and if you remember I dated a lot of Puerto Rican girls, if anything Christina is the outlier not the standard." He stepped closer pinning her against the counter.

Mindy didn't know what to say. She had been so mixed up after talking to Josh. And there was the rest of the conference, where she had been hanging out with Danny and he was actually kind of sweet and funny. Then the whole hand holding debacle and before she could even figure out what it all meant, Fucking Christina showed up.

One look at his beautiful ex-wife and every comment Danny had ever made about she looks came racing through her mind. In that moment, she knew that she could never be someone that Danny found attractive. She gave a fake smile, and went into her office and /did not/ freak out. She had a great boyfriend and her career was going pretty well and she would not allow some dude who didn't even like her, to make her ruin all that.

Beyonce Pad Thai finished the work day without even thinking about lying on the floor. When just Mindy got home that night, she felt a little sad, but she called Casey and he came over and then everything was fine. Everything was fine, until Casey kept asking her if she would come on this mission trip he was organizing.

He really wanted her to come. He needed her to come. The people of Haiti needed a good doctor like her. She didn't mind thinking about going on this trip, but the more he talked about it the more he brought up all the good they could do. How they could move to Haiti and open a little clinic.

That was not Mindy's plan. She was happy with her life. She was happy with her three hundred dollar shoes and great friends and being a partner at a nice practice before the age of 35. She didn't want to give all that up, and maybe that made her selfish, but at least she was honest with herself. When she told Casey this, he was disappointed, but he understood. That being said, the relationship couldn't survive when they just wanted different things. So they broke up.

Post breakup, she had planned on throwing herself into work. This was very easy to do, when Danny was gone for nearly a week with 'the flu', not that Mindy didn't know what that meant. Still, she saw patients and did deliveries and even managed to snag some of Danny's patients with insurance, (Score!) but when she got home to her empty apartment she was sad again.

She had been thinking that she was dealing with everything pretty well, when Danny stormed into her office, calling her a bitch and telling her to get her act together. Clearly, not. Now he is here and saying all the right things, but she doesn't want to trust him.

Too many cautionary tales are racing through her mind. She should tell him that this is crazy and if they do this, they could end up destroying the practice, but he is standing so close, and sweating in that cute way that she knows he is worried. And she can't bring to do anything but look at him.

That is until he leans down and kisses her. It's like to hands all over again, except they both pull away, only to come back ravenously. The next thing they know, she is on the counter and they are fumbling to get each other's clothes off, kissing wildly between breaks to remove a shirt or belt or anything standing in their way. When he gets to panties, they both stop for a moment, nervous, but then Mindy leans down and kisses him again and all hesitation is gone.

Almost an hour later, they are laying in bed when Danny remembers the cupcakes.

"Hey Min, Would you be like, totally pissed if I said I was starving."

"Well Danny, you are kind of ruining the moment, but I could eat," she smiled happily.

"Alright if we eat in bed?" he asked, before disappearing, only to return with the box of cupcakes.

"Umm yeah, I don't plan on letting you leave this bed until you head to the hospital tomorrow." She replied taking the box and surveying the contents as Danny got back in bed.

"I call Chocolate!" they both said at once, laughing when they realized that just because they were now doing it, didn't mean they were going to magically get along.

"Halfies?" Danny offered.

"60/40!" Mindy demanded.

"I don't think so, babe." He laughed snatching the chocolate from the box.

"Don't you even think about it Daniel Castellano!" She laughed as he tried to take the biggest bite known to man.

"50/50?" He said after swallowing the bite.

"Fine, but I want my own next time." She relented.

"Next time?"

"Yeah, chucklehead, I'm sure you will screw up again soon, and I will accept your apology like the great and forgiving girlfriend you will find me to be, and then I will expect my own chocolate cupcake." She said as if this wasn't the craziest thing they had ever done.

"I can live with that." He replied, handing her half the cupcake.

_(A/N: I know the whole girlfriend thing is a little sudden, but a) I think they both want a relationshipnot just sex, b) it is more that she says that's where they are headed, then where they are. So please tell me what you think and I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading)_


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